


The Sound of Your Voice

by SilverInk



Series: Short Fluffy Snippets [3]
Category: The Mummy (1999), The Mummy Series
Genre: Cheesy, Established Relationship, Fluff, Multi, Romance, Sleepy Cuddles, mostly ardeth & rick being cute saps
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-07
Updated: 2017-04-07
Packaged: 2018-10-16 03:42:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10562979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverInk/pseuds/SilverInk
Summary: Rick has insomnia, and Ardeth stays up with him.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [GhostInTheMachine](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GhostInTheMachine/gifts).



A frustrated sigh and the rustling of sheets from the other side of the bed woke Ardeth from a light sleep. He looked up, across the sleeping form of Evie, still curled up against him and snoring softly, to see Rick standing by the edge of the bed in his bathrobe. It wasn’t unusual for him to have trouble sleeping, but they’d all had a long day and Ardeth had expected him to fall asleep quickly. Ardeth sat up, wondering briefly if something was wrong.

"What is it, _habibi?"_

"It's nothing, go back to sleep," he whispered. "Just having some trouble getting to sleep is all. I'll try reading for a while, that should help."

Ardeth raised an eyebrow. Reading hardly ever worked for Rick, unless he—Ardeth—or Evie if she was up, read aloud to him. Rick saw the look and shrugged.

"I don't like keeping you up so late all the time.”

Ardeth padded over to him and wrapped his arms around Rick's neck and said, "I don't mind, I promise. I can never sleep very long anyway." A sleepy sigh from the bed made Ardeth grab Rick's hand and tug him out to the living room, not wanting to disturb Evie.

They sat on the couch together and Rick leaned into him, burying his face in Ardeth's hair and wrapping his arms around him. He never did this when he wasn't sleep-deprived and affectionate, and Ardeth always enjoyed getting to see this side of him, though it was often so different from how he was normally that Ardeth had to fight not to laugh.

Rick reached out to cup his face, brushing his thumbs over the tattoos on his cheeks very delicately. "I love you so much, you know that?" Rick mumbled. "You're so beautiful..." He ran his fingers through Ardeth's hair and kissed him, open mouthed, making Ardeth's head spin, and Ardeth wrapped his arms around Rick's waist. Rick hummed, then reached behind him to grab Ardeth's hand and kiss the tattoos on the back of it. At that, Ardeth couldn’t help smirking a little. Both Evie and Rick adored his tattoos, he knew—they’d been more than a little starstruck when they’d seen the others he had on his arms and chest—but they, especially Rick, didn't often touch them like this. The attention almost made him blush.

Eventually he and Rick were cuddled on the couch, Ardeth's back pressed to Rick's chest. He kept trying to braid Ardeth's hair, jokingly telling him how good it looked when he asked. Ardeth laughed, and grabbed a book about the mythology of Egypt from the coffee table, one of many they had throughout the house.

"I'll read to you, shall I?" Rick hummed and nodded, wrapping an arm around his chest and burying his face in his hair again. Ardeth grinned and started reading. The book was in Arabic so Rick didn't understand a word; he'd said he liked hearing Ardeth speak Arabic, though, and he seemed to fall asleep easier when he couldn't understand what Ardeth was saying anyway. Ardeth slipped so easily back into reading the elegant cursive of his native language that he forgot Rick didn't understand it, forgot briefly all the English he knew.

"Goodnight, Rick," he whispered when he'd finished reading; they were both mostly asleep now.

"Hmm? What was that?" Rick mumbled. "You talking to me?"

Ardeth blinked in surprise, then shook his head and repeated it in English. He hadn’t noticed his slip.

"Goodnight, honey. And thanks for staying up again," Rick replied, and almost immediately fell asleep. Ardeth drifted off not long after, feeling warm and safe and loved.

***

In the morning, Evelyn was unsurprised to find herself alone in the large bed. She had a feeling Rick (and therefor Ardeth too) hadn't gotten much sleep last night. Yawning loudly, she padded out of the bedroom to find her boys still fast asleep on the couch, wrapped around each other in a tangle of limbs. She smiled fondly at them, moving to cover them with a spare blanket. It didn't look like they'd be awake for a while yet, so Evie made her way to the kitchen and started some breakfast for when they woke up, trying to make as little noise as possible; they deserved a bit of a lie-in after all.


End file.
